31 



seen a broken down horse, 17 years old, after eating this fungus 

 exhibit venereal excitement." 



The subject of poisonous fungi T have always thought to be 

 one of great interest. The unfounded dread with which the 

 whole tribe is popularly regarded is a very singular fact. Most 

 people look upon fungi generally — or toadstools, as they are 

 irreverently called — as a family of almost exclusively poisonous 

 plants. I believe no notion to be more erroneous. There is no 

 ground for supposing that the proportion of poisonous species is 

 greater amongst fungi than amongst flowering plants; and as to 

 the nature of the poisonous principle, I am not aware of any 

 fungus of which the poison would rival in virulence that of the 

 Monkshood, the "Water Dropwort, the Black Bryony, the wood of 

 the common Oleander, and numerous other flowering plants 

 which might be mentioned. Not a little of the nonsense of the 

 ancients still clings to the subject. They (the ancients) repre- 

 sented as dangerous, all fungi which grew near the trail of a 

 serpent, or near a rusty nail, a mouldy cloth, or a poisonous tree. 

 Towards the end of the seventeenth century the subject cropped 

 np again with a number of almost groundless suggestions as to 

 the mode of distinguishing good species from bad ones; such as, 

 when, in cooking, a tin or silver vessel turned brown, or the 

 white of an egg lead-colour, or small onions black. Bulliard, 

 who wrote in 1791, did a good deal to explode the above absurdi- 

 ties, but modern suggestions are not much more useful. For 

 instance, it has been said that all fungi with very soft flesh 

 should be avoided, as well as those which dissolve in age into a 

 black fluid. Now, these rules would exclude many of the kinds 

 of Boletus, which are undeniably wholesome, and which some 

 people think palatable. No one would think of eating Coprinus 

 comatus when it had began to turn into ink, but if gathered 

 when quite fresh and young, it has a high character amongst 

 esculent fungi. Again, it has been said that fungi having a 

 poisonous, strong, or disagreeable smell, should be avoided, and 

 this may be partially true; but four at least of the most dan- 

 gerous species may be mentioned in which the smell would be 

 no guide. I allude to Agaricus hulbosus. Ay. pantherimis, Ag. 

 muscarius, and Ag. nebularis. 



The presence of acrid milk, changes of colour when bruised, 



